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Draft Preview 2017
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
UPWARD MOBILITY
TTEN YEARS AGO, you wouldn’t have found a feature in Draft Preview about a kid who fits Cale Makar’s description. Fifteen years ago, you wouldn’t have even seen one picked in the first round. But Makar, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound defenseman, has come along just at the right time, when puck-movers with skill are valued more than the lumbering blueline giants of yesteryear. If Makar isn’t the first defenseman taken, he’ll be a close second – and his competition is the similarly built Miro Heiskanen. Hockey fans, welcome to your Erik Karlsson years. As the Ottawa Senators captain destroys preconceived notions of what a blueliner can be, Karlsson has begun to spawn disciples just as happy to usher the puck up the ice as the sublime Swede does. And NHL teams are…
A FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
THE ISLANDERS may be an unorthodox franchise in many ways, but they’ve always been quite progressive when it comes to drafting. Size has never been an issue when skill is present, so smaller prospects such as Taylor Cammarata and David Quenneville have often found themselves as Long Island property. And, befitting of a team run by an ex-goalie in GM Garth Snow, New York has always made sure to keep the crease stable full. IMMEDIATE NEEDS: Developing prospects into full-fledged NHLers has been an issue lately, though Josh Ho-Sang and Anthony Beauvillier bucked the trend. Still, this team needs to cash in on the deft selections it has made and take advantage of all the youth at its disposal. That means jettisoning some veterans. LONG-TERM NEEDS: While the blueline is fine for…
NEXT WAVE IS COMING
TO SAY THE Ottawa Senators have drafted well the past two years qualifies as an understatement. The Senators, who shocked the NHL by making the playoffs this season, have set themselves up for an even brighter future with the likes of defenseman Thomas Chabot and centers Colin White and Logan Brown, who were ranked Nos. 3, 12 and 14 in THN’s Future Watch 2017. In addition, 2015 second-round pick Filip Chlapik scored 91 points in 57 games for an average of 1.6 per game, which was best among top 20 scorers in the QMJHL and sixth among the 60 players who finished in the top 20 scoring in each major junior league. IMMEDIATE NEEDS: The Senators had the worst goal differential among the 16 playoff teams and were the only one…
CAN’T-MISS SWISS
NO. 2 PROSPECT NICO HISCHIER THE LITTLE VILLAGE of Naters looks like something that should be captured in a snow globe, a place where beautiful people smile and laugh as they skip off to go skiing in the Alps before hitting the spa. Within 15 minutes, you can be 2,000 meters above the base of the mountains with nothing between your ski tips and the chalet but soft, powdered snow. Nestled in the Great Aletsch Glacier, where there are 48 mountains with elevations of more than 4,000 meters, the Matterhorn, (yes, that Matterhorn) is less than 45 minutes away. It was there that little Nico Hischier took the hint. Which is why he spent as much time snowboarding and skiing as he did playing hockey when he was a kid. Not being…
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